Bluwan launches Point to Multipoint millimetre wave wireless backhaul solution for small cell networks
BARCELONA, Spain, Mobile World Congress – February 28, 2012: Bluwan, a provider of carrier-grade multi-gigabit wireless solutions, today announced the availability of its Fibre Through The Air (FTTA) Point to Multipoint (PMP) millimetre wave solution. Particularly suited for providing greater RAN capacity to small cell network topologies in dense urban areas, the millimetre wave PMP backhaul solution provides a massive amount of cost effective capacity, up to 2 Gbps in each sector, for up to 20 cell sites at 100 Mbps each.
Operating in the 42 GHz band, Bluwan’s millimetre wave PMP backhaul is better suited to meet the demand for increased network capacity than traditional backhaul approaches. It provides the 100 Mbps needed for LTE that copper cannot accommodate, avoids the expensive trenching of laying cable, and is much more economical than Point to Point (PTP) wireless backhaul solutions (see “Bluwan reveals total cost of ownership for small cell backhaul solutions”).
A single Bluwan millimetre wave PMP transmission hub can connect 20 cell sites at 100 Mbps, offering 20 times more throughput than existing PMP microwave solutions. As it operates in the 42GHz bands, spectrum is much more cost effective. It also avoids the increased spectrum congestion and limited channel sizes increasingly faced by PTP wireless backhaul solutions in dense, urban areas using sub-40 GHz spectrum. In addition, millimetre wave PMP only uses one sectoral antenna to serve a cluster of mobile base stations from a transmission hub, meaning it requires less equipment on a mast. This all correlates to more efficient use of limited cell tower space, lower site rental and lower maintenance costs.
“With millimetre wave PMP backhaul, MNOs, wholesale providers and ISPs can easily distribute capacity to end points as required,” says Shayan Sanyal, Chief Commercial Officer at Bluwan. “Consumers will benefit from greater available bandwidth, better quality of service and more cost effective mobile broadband services. Our PMP architecture is also a modular solution that can scale with an operator’s requirements, enabling operators to ‘grow as they go’ and provision progressive capacity as cell density increases.”
The solution is made up of three main components; Bluwan’s patented Wireless Wave Division Multiplexer, the FTTA 42 GHz Backhaul Radio Unit, and an all outdoor compact NTE unit – comprising modem, multiplexer, radios and antennas in one box.
Bluwan’s FTTA Point to Multipoint (PMP) millimetre wave solution will be generally available from April 2012, and is already in trial with a number of customers. For further details and pricing, please contact Bluwan.
About Bluwan Fibre Through The Air (FTTA) Point to Multipoint (PMP) Millimetre Wave 42 GHz small cell backhaul
Bluwan’s FTTA combines the efficiency of a hybrid Frequency Division Duplex/Time Division Duplex Point to Multipoint architecture with the pure performance of wide band millimetre wave radio units to deliver scalable and configurable capacity to cell sites. Its compact Network Terminating Equipment (NTE) is easily installed across all sites covered by the sector.
Bluwan’s innovative Wireless Wave Division Multiplexing (WWDM) technology, embedded in the FTTA Backhaul Multiplexer, allows operators to aggregate multiple 100 Mbps channels to deliver 2 Gbps capacity through its 1 GHz wide millimetre wave radio. WWDM is a patented, multiplexing, power supply, level control and monitoring unit which combines multiple channels to the air interface. The WWDM operates in similar manner to optical multiplexing, which combines different wave lengths in a single fibre to multiply capacity. Bluwan’s WWDM reduces dependency on proprietary modem technology, and provides a future-proof method to improve indoor unit efficiency as modem technology continues to evolve
The Backhaul NTE is an all outdoor, compact unit with all the elements integrated in one housing (modem, multiplexer, radios and antennas) for easy rooftop, mast or tower installation. It delivers 100 Mbps of capacity to a single cell site. As an all outdoor unit, the NTE does not require any additional equipment or space in an indoor room. In addition, the unit is powered over ethernet (PoE), making the cabling of the unit much simpler, cost effective and faster. All that is required is a RJ45 connection as well as AC power for the small indoor PoE power supply.
About Bluwan
Bluwan’s carrier grade multi-gigabit wireless transmission technology allows service providers to increase the throughput and capacity of existing networks. Operating in the 12 GHz and 42 GHz spectrum bands, Bluwan’s technology can be deployed primarily for mobile backhaul and wide area broadband access applications.
Offering fibre-like speeds and capacity, its compact radio antennas allow service providers to deploy multimedia services at a fraction of the cost of deploying optical fibre, whether to individual cell sites or to customer premises.
Bluwan’s solutions are the culmination of several years of R&D performed in collaboration with the Thales Group in the defence and aerospace markets. Bluwan is headquartered in Paris, France, with additional offices in London.
For more information please visit www.bluwan.com.
Editorial contacts
CCgroup, for Bluwan
Liv Nixon / Sarah Wilson
Email: bluwan@ccgrouppr.com
Tel: +44 207 313 4592 / +44 1189207667
Shayan Sanyal
Email: ssanyal@bluwan.com
Tel: +44 203 384 9607
